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Re: Is Paul George becoming a star?

Obviously no Pacer is getting voted in this year and that was never on the table for discussion.

But coaches will put a guy on the team if he's been a big pain in their a**. These guys know who they hate to deal with and who is doing special things. Up till now it's been West, and after a mini-slump he put together another great half of shooting to get back on track (I hope). But over the last few weeks Paul has been outplaying West's best games this year.

If these 2 both keep it up then that probably means the Pacers will be winning games, and that in turn will mean recognition. The question is going to be how good do they each have to be for the next few weeks and just how many games do the Pacers need to be above 500 to get 1 or 2 guys in.

I think this could be the end of KG's run. There's always a year where a guy doesn't make the AS team anymore.

Looking at the top PPG guys in the East:
Melo
James
Pierce
Wade
Bosh

That's the starting 5. The other guys ahead of Paul (and West for most) that to me are getting into less certain territory:

More likely
Josh Smith (should make it easily)
Jrue (team W-L hurts a lot but not enough)

Less likely
Ellis (if MIL stays above 500 he has a shot, but FG% hurts a lot)
Deng (comparison to Paul hurts a ton, Noah seems a more likely rep)
Joe Johnson (team not good enough, could be lone rep though)
Deron (rep helps a ton, but W-L hurts chances for multi-reps, and his FG% is puke)

Very unlikely
B Lopez (size helps, but team isn't good enough for multi-reps, Joe and DWill have rep)
Afflalo (gaining a rep but ORL is bad and he's not good enough to overcome that)
Kemba (team is awful)
DeRozen (team is awful)
Jennings (Ellis goes before him if MIL gets 1 due to rep, though Ellis shooting is bad)

So of the top 18 scorers (which ends at Paul's rank, currently) there could be a good case for both West and Paul.

From rebounders Paul ends the top 20, West is at 13. You can bring in Varejao, Noah, Chandler and Horford into the discussion.
Varejao has a bad team, but he's been so good and is at a thin spot (technically since there is no "C" this year) that he has a decent shot.
Noah goes instead of Deng.
Chandler and Horford are only hurt by having other reps and whether the team deserves more. Horford has a better shot to me.

Since Paul and West are both in this list also, along with Lebron, Josh Smith and Bosh, I think it helps them quite a bit.

Obviously assists will hurt them but to me the only new guy it brings into the mix is Rondo. This is what puts Jrue on the team for sure, but Rondo might be on a team at or below 500 by that point and will clearly already have Pierce on the roster.

That's 20. Indy is a borderline 2 player team. MIL, CHI, BRK and BOS are worse than Indy, so more than 1 there is also questionable. If you cut them all back to 1 and drop Afflalo and Varejao then you are at 13. I think MIL is at risk of having no reps with Rondo going on instead. Then you have Horford and Chandler as "at risk" players to me. I don't think a 3rd or 4th seed Pacers would go without a rep at all and I think West would go over Horford at this point if that's where the decision ends up.

After all that scattered (sorry) brainstorming it's still really close. Looking at it even more only solidifies to me how it can range from none to both based on how things play out the next few weeks. I could honestly see West and Paul playing their way onto the team. If they have numbers and have been key in a series of wins that has the Pacers pushing past Atlanta, then I think they will get 2 reps.

Re: Is Paul George becoming a star?

PG got a another bump in 2K13. He's an 83 now and officially the highest rated Pacers. I think Granger is an 83, but he's injured, so his numbers are down. West got a bump a while ago to an 81. Lance got a big bump from a 59 to a 69. Still think with more time, Lance will get up to a 73 or so. He's been a much better rebounder lately, still a steady consistent shooter and he's a great great passer. Not his fault that his teammates can't make shots.

The crazy thing over the past 5 games is I've found myself thinking, man Paul has hit a little slump. Guy has really surpassed all of my expectations. Really want the W tonight over Houston, putting us on pace for 50 wins half way through would be way better than I expected once Danny went down.

Re: Is Paul George becoming a star?

So in the month of January, the Pacers are 7-3 with wins over Miami, NYK, and Houston. PG is averaging 20.1ppg, 10rpg, 3.4apg, 2.8spg. If the Pacers keep winning, especially with this road trip about to start, and if PG keeps that 20/10 pace, I think he has a great shot at Eastern Conference Player of the Month. There isn't one player in the league averaging 20/10 on the season (David Lee is so close at 19.8ppg and 10.8rpg). George putting that up for a month while the team winning ~70% of their games is pretty damn impressive. And he's had really impressive games against Miami, NYK and Houston.